Mug shot of Manning in 1985

Thomas William Manning (June 28, 1946 – July 29, 2019) was an American Marxist militant convicted of killing New Jersey State Police trooper Philip J. Lamonaco during a traffic stop in 1981.[1][2] Before and after the murder he was involved with a Marxist organization, the United Freedom Front (UFF), which bombed a series of US military and commercial institutes and committed bank robberies in the 1970s and early 1980s.[3][4]

Early life

The son of a Boston postal clerk, he shined shoes and raised pigeons, in his early youth, before finding work as a stock boy. He joined the US Military in 1963, and the following year was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba before being transferred off to spend the following year in the Vietnam War. Some time shortly after 1965, he was sentenced by a Massachusetts state court to five years in prison for armed robbery and assault, serving the last ten months in MCI-Cedar Junction. He later claimed that during these years that he became heavily politicized through his interactions with other prisoners.[5]

After his release in 1971, he married Carol and together they had three children: Jeremy, Tamara, and Jonathan.

United Freedom Front

In 1975, Manning's friend Raymond Levasseur co-founded the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit along with Manning, Pat Gros (Rowbottom), and Carol Manning. This eventually became known as the United Freedom Front. From 1975 to 1984 the UFF carried out ten of bank robberies in the Northeast United States to support intermittent UFF political bombings and later, to support their "life on the run".[3][4]

Manning was convicted for killing New Jersey State trooper Philip J. Lamonaco during a traffic stop on December 21, 1981.[6] The killing launched the largest manhunt in New Jersey police history,[7] and ended with the arrests of Raymond and Patricia Levasseur, Richard Williams, Jaan Laaman, and Barbara Curzi on November 4, 1984, and Tom and Carol Manning, on April 24, 1985. All were associated with the United Freedom Front. Manning pleaded self-defense at his trial.[8] He was sentenced to life in prison on February 19, 1987.[1]

In September 2006, the University of Southern Maine removed Manning's artwork from an art presentation, and apologized for allowing him to be heralded as a "political prisoner" by event organizers.[9]

Manning's projected release date was September 28, 2020. Manning died in prison in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia on July 29, 2019, aged 73.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Janson, Donald (February 19, 1987). "MANNING SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN MURDER OF TROOPER IN JERSEY". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ "In Memoriam - 1980's - Trooper II Philip J. Lamonaco". State of New Jersey. Archived from the original on May 25, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Bryan Burrough (2016). "23 - The Last Revolutionaries - The United Freedom Front, 1981 to 1984". Days Of Rage - America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 9780143107972. Archived from the original on May 25, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Phillip Jenkins. "Case-Study of US Domestic Terrorism: United Freedom Front". Archived from the original on August 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ Thomas W. Manning. "Tom Manning Short Biography". www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009.
  6. ↑ United States of America, Plaintiff v. Raymond Luc LEVASSEUR, Jaan Karl Laaman, Thomas William Manning, Richard Charles Williams, Carol Ann Manning, Patricia Gros and Barbara Curzi, Defendants, 620 F.Supp. 624 (United States District Court, E.D. New York 1985).
  7. ↑ "New Jersey State Police - History - 1980s". state.nj.us. State of New Jersey. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012.
  8. ↑ Paul Basken (1986). "Manning testified, claims self-defense". United Press International. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  9. ↑ Thomas W. Manning. "Can't Jail the Spirit: Art by Political Prisoner Tom Manning and Others". www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009.
  10. ↑ Gray, Matt (August 1, 2019). "Domestic terrorist convicted in murder of N.J. State Trooper Philip Lamonaco dies in prison". NJ.com. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
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